Mic Gillette

Mic Gillette (May 7, 1951 – January 17, 2016) was an American brass player, born and raised in northern California’s East Bay area. He was famous for being a member of Tower of Power, Cold Blood, and The Sons of Champlin. His father Ray Gillette was a trombonist with Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, and other big bands.
Biography
A child prodigy, Gillette picked up the trumpet and was reading music by age four. At 15, he joined the Gotham City Crime Fighters (which later evolved into the Tower of Power), playing both trumpet and trombone (as well as baritone and tuba). He took a brief break from Tower of Power to tour and record with the band Cold Blood, but re-joined Tower of Power a year later, hitting the road and opening for Santana and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
As its reputation as a premier horn band grew, Tower of Power toured with Heart, Rod Stewart, and The Rolling Stones, among others. In addition, Gillette appeared on hundreds of recordings as a session player. But in 1984, fearing that his daughter Megan would not recognize him, Gillette quit touring to be a full-time father. In 1998 shortly after joining the Sons of Champlin he missed one of their concerts due to a split lip. According to Mic himself, he had split his lip due to not playing for 14 years after leaving Tower of Power. He spent those years running a landscaping business in the San Francisco Bay Area.
An outstanding brass player with a great range and a funky style, Gillette played a Marcinkiewicz Rembrandt Model SC3X.351 Large-Bore Trumpet and a King 3B trombone with an F-attachment (he also played a Pan American E-flat Tuba and an Olds 3-valve baritone). He used and endorsed Marcinkiewicz mouthpieces on all of this equipment. Oddly, Gillette practiced very little; in a 2002 interview, he claimed to play only 3–4 days a week, and said he hadn’t practiced regularly since he was seven.
Gillette was a member of the Sons of Champlin (he departed in 2006), fronted by Chicago vocalist and keyboardist Bill Champlin; he was also a member of Tortilla Soup, a 10 piece northern California band. He played with comedian Danny Marona, the Stevie “Keys” Roseman All Star Band, the Strokeland Superband, and Funky Loophole (Gillette’s own band).